Entitlement spending — Medicare, Social Security, etc. — combined with the ever growing black hole that it is the defense budget will bankrupt the United States before the middle of this century without an application of serious fiscal conservatism. This was the kicker from a link I blogged about yesterday, “At stake ultimately is the United States’ status as a first-class economy.” The subject in question there? The federal deficit.

From the first link:

President Obama will sign an executive order Thursday to set up a bipartisan fiscal commission to weigh proposals to rein in the soaring federal debt, according to a White House official.

The official, who requested anonymity because the President has not made the announcement yet, said the co-chairs of the commission will be Democrat Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff for Bill Clinton, and Alan Simpson, former Republican Senator from Wyoming. It’ll be officially titled the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.